Call me Spadette

Why not? Other spa blogs have claimed names like Spa Diva, Spa Queen or Spa Princess. But they always strike me as a little too surface. They would have you believe that each spa visit is destined to plop you square at the intersection where you and Nirvana meet. They speak in glowing terms of a spa's feng shui'd design, its Zen garden, the hushed hallways and whispering water falls, its loose-leaf teas and fruit-infused elixirs, or its organically sustainable products.

Sure it's important that spas be aesthetically pleasing and the products good for us as well as the environment. But why doesn't anyone talk about what it takes to achieve that oft-overwrought word called bliss? All the moments before, during and after your visit are the moments that will together become the experience. It could be pretty on the outside and uncomely on the inside for a variety of reasons. Like any other relationship, it takes good communication between you and your spa peeps. Talk to them so they can help you! Then, getting there is totally possible!

I dub myself Spadette because the "ette" implies that I'm just a babe in this vast terrain called The Land of Spa. Think of this blog as the spa equivalent to learning how to use more than a fraction of your computer's capability. It's like Albert Brooks discovered in the comedy film "Defending Your Life," that as a mere human he was using less than 5% of his brain function. He had to die to figure that out.

But spa-ing is meant for the living! Spa people aspire to help us find our bliss while we're on the premises (and beyond, when it's working for us). My goal here is that, by telling our stories, we can expand our Spa I.Q. and learn how make the most of our experience each time we enter The Land of Spa. I'll share some of my own spa experiences—good and bad—and what I continue to learn as a spa goer and lover and from covering the industry, and I would love it if you could educate me with your stories! We can dish, we can mull on what went wrong, and ultimately we can all be better, happier spa goers.

So let the spa royalists continue to wax exotic on the fluffy stuff. We're going to be busy cracking the code and soft landing into The Land of Spa.

Yay us!